


Dark matters

by jesterforthequeen



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Angst, Drama, F/F, F/M, OUAT - Freeform, Romance, Swan Queen - Freeform, comedy hopefully
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-30
Updated: 2015-05-30
Packaged: 2018-04-02 01:33:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4040575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jesterforthequeen/pseuds/jesterforthequeen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Emma becomes the Dark one things do not come to an end, instead the stagnant continuation of her dark existence and what that means for those surrounding her begin to take shape in a way that leaves emma feeling foreign in her own skin. Henry and Regina have to find a way to fix it before its too late. This is my first fan fiction ever guys, so be kind and constructive. Any grammar mistakes or anything you'd love to comment on, or story ideas or anything is greatly appreciated. I am testing this out, and hopefully people think its interesting enough to read.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 1

A/N: I don't own anything and I don't mean to copy anyone or anything already owned by someone else. Just an attempt at some creative liberty and stuff.

The house was as quiet as ever, even with henry’s permanent move back home. It could have been the stillness of the town in general, though Regina couldn’t be sure. Her impressive heels were a ticking against the pristine tile floors as she reached the base of the stairs.  
“Henry! It’s time for breakfast! Hurry it up or you’ll be late for school young man. I don’t care what travesty has befallen us; you still need your education.” 

From the top of the stairs she could hear the beginnings of Pink Floyd’s opinion on said education. Regina smirked, an instant reminder that he had spent a fake lifetime with Emma as an influence, and the rebellious choice of morning music was not lost on her. ‘Smartass’ she thought to herself. 

“Don’t make me repeat myself Henry!” It was a declaration that cut through the air. Henry trudged down the stairs. His coat and scarf already in place and he had his back pack in his hand.

“Good morning mom.” He kissed her cheek, very close to her height already. He didn’t say anything else as he sat down and began to pick at his breakfast. She inspected him, and pursed her lips. 

“We are going to fix it. I love you, and your mother loves you, and everything will be fine.” Regina chanted automatically and grabbed him by the shoulder to side hug him, but henry had become a touch pessimistic after Emma had turned. It had all happened so fast, and he should have never broken the pen. 

He felt helpless after three weeks of failed attempts. He was falling into a negative thinking pattern. It was strange. In the past, his mothers were not the largest evil, and there was a way of saving the day. But now henry felt lost and he couldn’t see any light through the tunnel of darkness that followed his mother. No savior to save her from the things no one saw or felt but her, but he could see it cross her face. Only her and eons of blackmagic that continued to seep into all the parts of her that lay unchecked by those around her. His grandparents didn’t see the moments when she showed it as they were so optimistic. Hook was blindly in love with Emma no matter what her character was actually showing. 

“I know.” he said. The confidence was absent and all that was hanging in the air from him was acceptance. He had been so sure in the past, and it had been years of turmoil and fighting evil. Henry was tired of being the strongest believer that it would all be okay. He was sure having that much evil inside one person would destroy them from the inside out, and that is exactly what he was dreading. It was all true, what Mr. Gold had said to him. All magic does come with a price. 

Regina watched henry walk out the door, and set about cleaning the kitchen. It was quiet and her thoughts were eating away at her. The way everything had turned out these last few weeks were rattling her conscious. She put the dishes in the sink, and scrubbed away her thoughts. It was three weeks of looking for remnants of the hat and they had covered all the ground on storybrook, and found nothing. 

“You scrub that hard enough and you’ll start rubbing out the gloss.” Regina turned her head and gave a hum.

“How long have you been gawking at me?” She asked, still she continued cleaning up. Emma sat down on the island and watched in mild boredom.

“Not long, your majesty.” She cranked her neck as a yawn escaped her. Regina could hear her movements; she’d been noticing that as well.

“I’ve told you not to call me that, I’m not a queen anymore.” She frowned, Emma had developed the habit after absorbing the magic, and Regina wondered if it was residual from past inhabitants of the darkness. 

“Once a queen, always a queen.” Emma shrugged.

“Didn’t sleep well last night, dear?” Regina asked, ignoring her banter. The circles under her eyes were more prominent than the last week, and there was a red rim to her eyes that Regina didn’t particularly favor. It didn’t look healthy, and that bothered the Mayor more than she’d care to admit. 

“Next question.” she waved her hand and all the dishes and pans were cleaned and in their respective location, regina smiled to herself, she couldn’t get used to how ept Emma had become at magic since the recent changes.

“How are you?” Regina probed.

“I’m not sure at the moment. It’s been a rough night to be honest. Being the dark one and loving people is hard. I go to these places and Hook, he doesn’t really know what to say. Or maybe he does and it don’t bring me any comfort, Or he doesn’t say what I need to hear…but all of the above bother me.” Emma rubbed her forehead, and there was a painful minute of silence between them. 

Both lost to thoughts of dark magic and the feeling it brings. Regina had enough light magic that she could revel in the light, and shut down the remanents of dark lust. It was a sinful pleasure the darkness, because it created delicious ripples in the base of her head and reverberated along her brain. She had no idea how much dark magic was fueling Emma at the moment but she remembered what it felt like before Emma’s sacrifice, and she could imagine that amplified by a hundred at least. ‘Not the lust, the other more malignant part of it... is like falling off a cliff with no end. It feels hopeless’ Regina thought as she stared at Emma’s trodden boots

 

“It kind of makes you crazy, and I keep having these visions it’s like I’m seeing broken pieces of the future, a crappy future I didn’t want any part of.” Emma elaborated, as she watched Regina roam around the kitchen. Regina glanced her way, but didn’t say anything. There was so much that she felt could be addressed but then her mouth would betray her, and all the thoughts became clotted in her chest. She could see how tired Emma was, but she was also exhausted as her hands fell to her stomach protectively she betrayed herself.

“I’m having a lot of issues with Robin being the father of Zelena’s child. It makes me uncomfortable. Being with him after he’s been…intimate with her.” It seemed their brief encounters recently have had a lot of truth vomit to them. For Emma, it was because she didn’t have anyone else that she felt she could relate to in certain instances. The level of darkness that was living inside her was uncountable, and Regina was the only one that was as well acquainted with it. 

“Yea I got that.” Emma murmured quietly, her eyes trained on Regina putting away her apron. She watched a calculated, guarded woman put on her mask before looking past her.

“I have to get to work. I’m sure you have somewhere to be as well.” The moment for sharing had passed, and Emma could sense the defenses crawling up the mayors’ body.

“You don’t have to shut me out.” Emma said quietly before disappearing in a puff of black smoke that irked Regina every time she saw it. It was a reminder of the darkness that encompassed her for a brief but unforgettable moment, and even more a signature of the sacrifice that remains between them.


	2. We are Family

The mayor’s morning was busy with small quiet complaints of fear. The spectacle that was Emma becoming the Dark One was a train wreck that even captured the attention of the most aloof characters in storybrook. Regina had rolled her eyes at the fairies going berserk in anticipation for an evil attack on the convent. She couldn'tn't care less about the townsfolk herself, but they had originally started by protesting in front of the sheriffs office, so Regina personally took care of those complaints, and had gone to large lengths to quell the simmering fear of disgruntled fairytale characters. Regina saw very little of the fairies, as she preferred the idiots to handle that mess. Speaking of the devil, she thought as Snow came in, from the outside window Regina could hear the birds singing a tweeted version of We are family, as she came in all smiles in a frilly dress with long riding boots.

“Are you serious right now?” Regina said with her head turned outside towards the ridiculous chorus. 

“Cute trick huh?” she said way too pleased with herself. 

“Snow, why do you insist on being such a nuisance? If only you were so persistent about keeping your Lilliputian tribe together and out of my line of vision, then…well I’d still be disgusted but at the very least it’d be a thousand times more tolerable.” Regina picked her glasses from her face and held them below her chin, a small arched eyebrow questioned Snows presence.

“Oh Regina, we’re past all that, where is the family love? I know it’s there! Here have some pie! You’ve been doing so much for us. I just wanted to bring that by, and give you an update of the convent.” Snow said cheekily, and then the last part was whispered in conspiration. It was like some horrible diabetic treat but she let snow put it on the table. Regina will probably never think Snow was anything but a nauseating reminder of colorful pony unicorn shit but she took a deep breath and regrouped with a hand to her temple.   
“What is it?” Her ears were still aware the birds were now going into the chorus ‘we are family, I got all my sisters with me’ she slammed her hand down in anger, she couldn’t help know the lyrics, her eyes twitched and she shut the window with a force and a trigger happy hand.

“Sometimes... I want to stuff you full of those birds you train to whistle annoying things all day.” Regina said lowly.

“I love you too regina, but let’s focus, shall we?” Snow said before there was a moment of face off that could have melted Snow into water, or Regina into some kind of gross candy corn.

“They’ve been having her followed it seems. Emma was right when she had felt eyes on her, with blue fairy dust. She even recruited my dwraves can you believe the nerve?” She frowned, and sat down. 

“Have you taken care of that aspect of the problem?” 

“I’ve spoken to the dwarves, and they are not buying that Emma is good. Grumpy says now an evil Queen and the Dark One are the threat to everything. They are working with them, I think Grumpy is being handled by Blue, and she might even be sexually manipulating him via Astrid. Fortunately, I’ve recruited my own Dwarf.” She said in a hushed tone.

“I didn’t need the visual. Beelzebub, that flying bug has nothing better to do but cause us trouble.” Regina could almost feel the heat rising to her chest in anger.

Wait..who?”

“Stealthy” Snow said proudly. 

“Who? I thought there were only seven?” Regina said tapping her pen impatiently on the desk, her white blouse was peaking out behind the power blazer, and she could feel the tension headache pooling at the back of her spine.

“Stealthy had died originally but after Emma altered the timeline I was never captured in the dungeon and so Stealthy never had to be killed trying to rescue Grumpy.” She said happily. Regina shook her head.

“I have no idea what you are talking about, but if you have a mole-rat you can use then that’s fine. Tell him to keep you updated.” She said wanting to continue onto more important matters.

“Why is blue so concerned about Emma? She would never do anything to hurt anyone.” Regina said as she placed both her hands on the table. Snow caught the offhanded remark, and smiled to herself. The convent was sketchy on a regular basis, and the lack of feedback from them after the sorcerer was brought back left everyone in the charming and mills bloodline a little uncomfortable. 

“They have always worked on their own with a separate agenda. You know how that fairy works, but I don’t want them alienating Emma further. The town has been doing a horrible job of acting normal around her, she doesn’t even want to go to the town hall meetings anymore, I’ve been trying to persuade her to go to the next one, but...she is so upset. I don’t know how to make it better.” 

“Do you think it goes beyond general fear?” regina asked her, snow paused.

“I believe the fairies are always afraid of not being on the top of the magic chain. I think they feel threatened by Emma, and you. I don’t think they have any upper hands on us. I am worried about their ability to sway a crowd with their image though.” Snow thought out loud. 

“Smartest thing i’ve heard you say as an adult.” Regina said.

“So funny, anyway here are the spots I’ve checked.”Snow said. She handed Regina some maps that had all kinds of scribble on them, and left muttering about her baby, Regina rolled her eyes.

 

“Thank you Snow, I’ll take a look and see what I can do.” The town will calm eventually, but Regina got the feeling if she didn’t figure out a way to get the darkness out of emma soon, then she’d go crazy. Rumplestilskin was sick for centuries, and Regina saw the screws falling off of him everyday until he died. 

The Dark One is a very difficult breed of magic, and the consequences of its powers disintegrate the mind, or that is what Regina feared. She couldn’t believe it, it felt ironic that in all of her existence now she feels weak. She wanted to kill Emma for sacrificing herself for her. The dagger was technically in her possession. She had picked it up after the incident, and felt the strange vibration of power. She could practically feel Emma’s energy pulsing through the handle, waiting for her. It had been the strangest sensation she’d ever experienced with the dagger. 

"You've developed an awful habit Emma." Regina reprimanded, and Emma wasn't sure what kind of tone that was but it had caused gooseflesh to rise to her scalp as she felt the tingling sensation of Regina's voice permeate the air. Emma smiled and sat up from the couch that hid her moments before. 

"I can't believe she brought entrance music." Emma said distractingly. 

"I can. She's snow white." Regina said with a roll of her eyes. Emma didn't move, and Regina wasn't sure what she wanted to do. 

"did you hear everything?" Regina got up to move to sit on the armchair to the left of Emma. The fireplace in her office was too gaudy for the Ex-savior, but she lit it anyway. 

"It's nothing I didn't already know. So Do you think I'm a danger?" Emma said leaning towards her. regina could feel the fire warming her face, almost as if the flames were getting bigger. She looked into those green eyes that were darker than they'd ever been, and she could see herself through them and she knew exactly what Emma thought about herself in that moment. The dread was all consuming, and any wrong move could send her off into dark waters. 

"Don't be foolish." She said instantly. Emma leaned back and looked away into a cloud of black smoke. She loved to make those quiet entrances and then those exits that pissed Regina off and left her with mild stomach aches.  

Regina sighed as she got back up and retreated to her desk. Emma had been stoic as of late, and Regina didn't know how to address it. It felt like there was this invisible barrier separating them. In the corner of her eye she noticed steam. Where the hideous pie had been now stood a coffee cup to go, and Regina was willing to bet it was exactly how she liked it. The rest of her morning was just a little more perky, as the caffeine hit her in just the right places to get her through the paperwork. Emma was a pain in her ass, but at least the coffee she got right, she thought as she took a sip of the hot liquid. 

 


End file.
